


Campfire Confessionals

by marsy_142



Category: Derry Girls
Genre: Developing Relationship, F/F, Fluff and Humor, Gen, James is only mentioned but might cut to show what he's getting up to later on, M/M, Swearing, camping trip
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-12
Updated: 2018-04-01
Packaged: 2019-03-17 01:55:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13649025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marsy_142/pseuds/marsy_142
Summary: When unchaperoned by their parents a camping trip that was supposed to be in all ways enjoyable takes a turn for the worst as the four girls find themselves in all kinds of tricky situations - from an encounter with a furious bull to accidentally burning off their own eyebrows when a flammable material meets their campfire. Despite the shenanigans they get into, the trip helps them grow closer and Clare realises she has a crush on one of her friends.





	1. Chapter 1

Two hours straight of walking was the last way Michelle wanted to spend her Saturday, but when Erin suggested that they and the girls should go on a camping trip over the summer holiday Michelle was reluctant to let her down with a blunt refusal and instead decided to go along with it – as long as she was allowed to pack some alcohol to keep her company for the weekend.

That plan, however, came as a curse. The sheer volume of alcohol in her rucksack weighed her down and made the already knackering trek even more tiresome. It wasn’t only Michelle feeling the effects of overpacking though; Orla also struggled to manage the weight of the amount of sweets she had stuffed into her bag.

“Fuck’s sake, how much longer is this journey, Erin?” Michelle snapped as she shrugged the slipping bag higher up on her shoulders.

Erin looked down at the map in her hands, then to Michelle, then back to the map. She placed a hand to her chin and pondered, “Well, if we divert from the track we might get there quicker.”

“Any way that gets us there quicker is good with me.”

“But it’s currently unmapped so…I’m not entirely sure what type of terrain it is.”

“It’s an adventure!” Orla added.

Clare sighed. She had a terrible feeling about all of this. Nothing good ever came from their escapades.

“It would be great if James were here, the wee prick could carry my bag,” Michelle commented.

Clare turned to her and frowned, “He’s not your slave, Michelle.”

“He might as well be…” Erin whispered as she walked ahead of all of them.

They walked off the nicely gravelled path that led them directly to the forest suitable for camping and instead took a route through a field surrounded by trees. Erin walked triumphantly as she had successfully found a shorter route, Orla hummed some obscure song and Michelle still had a face of annoyance on her. As they made their way quite easily towards the opposite end, Clare’s ears perked up at an unfamiliar sound.

“Does anyone else hear that?” she asked quietly.

Erin turned around and when she noticed what was approaching behind Clare her eyes widened ten-fold in fear. “Holy…shit…”

“What’s the matter?” Michelle asked as she slung her leg over a fence.

“Do not turn around Clare,” Erin ordered, “Just hurry to Michelle.”

Orla looked around to see what all the commotion was. “That cow looks angry.”

“That’s not a cow, Orla, that’s a fucking bull!” Erin yelled.

Clare was frozen in place. Michelle was nowhere to be seen. And Erin was screaming bloody murder. "Clare! Jump the fence!"

Clare didn't move as her brain kicked into panic mode, as Erin's voice grew increasingly frantic.  
  
"Hold on," Orla sprinted between Clare and the bull, "I saw this thing on the telly, I know what to do here,"

“Orla, are you mad?!” Clare turned around and tried to move her out of the way, but Orla was in the zone and resisted any of the attempts to pull her to safety.

As the bull got almost head to head with Orla it hesitated. She stared it down with an intense gaze sure to make anyone shit themselves in fear. Clare stood looking in awe at what was unfolding before her eyes. The bull straightened up and began to back away.

“Good, now clear off!” Orla commanded without breaking the gaze she had on the creature. The girls shared glances with each other in confusion, then shrugged - whatever power Orla exhibited, it worked and had saved their skin. Orla turned around and smiled, “It worked.”

“One question: how the fuck did you manage to get that bull to stop charging?” Erin asked.

“Magic,” was Orla’s only answer. She grabbed for Clare’s hand and led her fear-stricken body towards the fence. “The adventure isn’t over yet, Clare-bear.”

Clare was entirely out of it and the same could be said for the others, but instead of fearing the bull they were fearing whatever sort of mind-control strengths Orla had been gifted.

They continued their journey and before long they were approaching the forest that was promised. It was situated on higher ground which meant that if it rained in the night the water would just run off and not flood their tents. It was, according to Erin, the perfect camping spot.

Erin and Clare began unpacking their bags full of camping equipment, and together they laid out all the different resources on the ground.

“What exactly is this, Erin?” Michelle asked furiously as she held up a sheet of tarpaulin.  
  
Erin gulped, “Didn’t I tell you we were wild camping?”

“Wild camping?! What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“Well…it’s where we tie the sheets to trees and…brave the elements essentially,” Erin explained.

Orla clapped her hands, “Exciting!”

Clare began securing the ground sheets with a few pegs in each corner and Erin unwound the rope that would be used to secure the top sheets to the trees. She tied the rope onto the tarp and then suspended it across two trees creating a basha for the two of them to share.

“That’s how you set it up, now go make your own,” Erin said to Michelle with a small nudge.

“There is no fucking way I am sleeping in one of these.”

“Michelle, we have waterproof sleeping bags. You’ll be fine,” Clare said, while chucking two sleeping bags towards Michelle and Orla.

Orla set up the camping spot for her and Michelle without any help because Michelle was sat on her hole sulking over the fact that she was deceived into thinking this was a normal camping trip.

Michelle climbed under the top sheet of the shelter Orla put up as soon as it was secured to the trees. She let out a huge sigh and threw the sleeping bag over her face.

“If anyone needs me I’ll be sleeping for at least five hours. That walk near killed me.”

“Michelle, we were going to have dinner soon, you can’t sleep right now,” Clare kicked at the bottom of Michelle’s feet, that stuck out of the end of the tent, to get her attention.

She kicked back at Clare’s legs and from beneath the sleeping bag her middle finger rose into sight. “Wake me up when it’s ready then, dickhead.”

\----

At the scent of campfire fried potatoes floating through the air, and likely the sound of everyone chatting not so quietly, Michelle was roused her from her sleep. She slowly crawled from the comfort of the sleeping bag and over to the girls who surrounded the campfire.

Erin took a taste of the prepared food, “Fuck me Clare, you didn’t tell us you could cook.”

She laughed nervously, “Yeah, that’s because I was scared if you knew you’d never give me a break.”

As Michelle approached Orla waved and patted the space beside her, “Sit and enjoy the delicious food,” she said.

“Not sure how good it’ll be coming from a campfire but fine,” Michelle snarked.

Clare frowned as she passed a plate to Michelle, “Well that didn’t stop you from bolting up out of bed for it.”

Michelle shrugged, “Smelling good and tasting good are two very different things.” As Michelle tasted the food she tried to hide her enjoyment, so she would not be forced to take back her initial opinion. “Yeah, they taste alright,” she confessed monotonously.

Once they had all finished their food they dumped the plates at Michelle’s feet. She raised an eyebrow in the direction of Erin. “Why me?”

“Well you did nothing to help put up the shelters and you didn’t contribute towards the cooking either, it’s only fair.”

Michelle took a flask of water and poured it over the cutlery and plates to begin washing. A few drops of the ‘water’ hit the campfire and caused the flames to grow. “This…wasn’t the right flask,” she took a sniff and it was all clear to her - it was her flask of vodka from earlier.

Clare handed her the actual water, “Here you go.”

“I wasted good vodka on you dicks, you better be happy about this.”

As Erin walked towards her tent she made her snide remark out of earshot, “Oh no, how terrible,” she rolled her eyes then grabbed her blankets.

The cold chill in the evening air made Clare shiver. She tried to hide it but before she knew it, Orla wrapped her fleece blanket draped arm around her to share some warmth.

“This is far too cold for July,” Clare said.

Bluntly Michelle answered, “It’s Ireland.”

Erin shuffled back into the circle around the campfire, “In fairness Michelle, with the blood alcohol levels you have, you wouldn’t even be able to feel the cold.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”  
  
Clare leant in to Michelle, “I think what she is trying to say is, you have a bit of a problem.”

“I do not.”

“First stage is denial,” Orla chimed in.

Michelle growled, “Did you take me on this camping trip to give me an intervention?”

“Now that you mention it -” Clare began.

“No! I just wanted to spend some time with you lot, is that such a crime?” Erin interjected.

“A crime punishable by death,” answered the (even more) grumpy Michelle.


	2. Chapter 2

Once the storm between the group had settled down they ducked into their tents for the night. Erin took the level ground in her shelter leaving Clare to fight against the gravity, that threatened to pull her down the small hill, all night. That fight was soon over when at 2am she fully surrendered to sleep, the gravity caused her sleeping bag swaddled body to roll down the slope. 

On the other side of the camp Michelle tried to fend off a clingy sleeping Orla. She jabbed her elbow in Orla’s side as her sleeping bag pushed up against Michelle’s and her face rested on Michelle’s shoulder. 

“For fuck’s sake,” Michelle whispered under her breath at frequent intervals every time that Orla got close again. 

All was peaceful and quiet and even the wildlife had decided it was time to go to bed. That tranquility was soon ruined when a loud scream of pain came from Erin and Clare’s side, “Oh sweet Jesus it hurts!” Everyone hurriedly climbed out of their shelters to see what had happened. To Michelle’s amusement and Erin’s horror, they found that Clare was face down in a bed of stinging nettles, she flailed uncomfortably to try to get herself out of painful spikes that stung her entire body.

As soon as she realised what was happening Orla unzipped and climbed out of her sleeping bag. She was not exactly caring that only wearing shorts and a t-shirt meant that her bare arms and legs were stung by the bitter coldness in the air. Her grip tightened around Clare’s ankles through the sleeping bag and she carefully pulled her back up the slope, resting her sat upwards on some level ground. “Sting cream? Ye got any Clare-bear?” Orla asked.

Clare pointed towards her bag of supplies that was in her tent, then balled her hands to wipe the tears from her cheeks. “Erin, I blame you for this,” she said.

“Of course you do, Clare. Just because you wanted to sleep on that side-” 

Suddenly a finger was pressed to Erin’s lips by her cousin, “Shh, no fighting,” she then continued searching for the cream. Once she had it she held it high above her head triumphantly then crawled back over to Clare’s side. Orla squeezed some of the ointment from the tube and helped apply it on all the worst patches, where the skin was bright red and bumpy, especially the ones that covered her forehead and cheeks.

“Where’s Michelle?” Erin asked.

Orla peered towards her shelter, “Asleep,” she replied when she spotted Michelle sprawled out and face down in the pile of pillows, “Or dead...but probably asleep.”

“Not surprising,” Erin replied, “What a lazy git.” 

The tears remained on Clare’s face but she smiled softly as the sting relief cream was spread across her cheeks and rubbed in. “Thank you,” she said quietly as a small blush appeared on her face - not that it would be noticed with all the red nettle rashes. Then in complete contrast her eyes widened, she slapped Orla’s hand away and took the tube out of her hand, “I’ll do it.” 

Orla starred in a hurt confusion, she didn’t want to question her friend’s sudden reaction. When Clare’s reaction didn’t soften at all Orla took the hint and backed away. “Goodnight Erin, and you too Clare,” she said then returned to her tent. With a small push she moved Michelle so she could have enough space to crawl in the tent beside her. 

The small blonde took a few deep breaths to steady her heart rate that she felt rising out of control. Something wasn’t right and that’s why she needed to process it alone. She placed a shaking hand to her chest.

_‘Fucking calm down,’_ she yelled at herself internally, _‘She was only treating your stings you dick.’_

She sat there for the good part of an hour and within that time all the others had fallen back asleep. It was just her overthinking that was keeping her awake. Carefully she removed herself from the inside of the sleeping bag and instead wrapped it around her shoulders so she could pace around the forest. 

_‘How can someone look so cute with their mouth wide open and snoring?’_ Clare questioned as she walked past Orla’s tent. She mentally hit herself when she caught on to what she was thinking. 

After wandering around the forest and staring at the stars, silently begging them to give her advice on what to do and answers explaining what she was feeling, she returned to her tent and drifted off to sleep with only one thing on her mind and less worries than she originally had. 

_I can’t control my trembling voice_  
Even my reddening cheeks  
I can’t hide it  
I try to act cool but  
I can’t hide my heart  
I think I love you 

\----

In the morning Erin was the first to rise, followed closely by Orla, their sleep patterns were extremely synchronised. Orla took the opportunity, before everyone else woke up, to sit in solitude on one of the surrounding fences. She closed her eyes as she took in breaths of the clean countryside air. 

“Orla?” Erin came up behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder, “What happened last night?” 

Orla jumped at the contact as she was shaken from her peaceful state. She turned around on the fence to face Erin, “I actually do not understand what happened,” she began, “All I did was try to make her better after she got hurt…then she got mad.” 

They looked equally puzzled by the situation. Orla placed her head in her hands and sighed, “I did something bad right…?” 

“No, I don’t think it’s that,” Erin replied quickly then took a moment to think about what could possibly have went wrong. “Wait, do you remember her revelation she made a month ago?” 

“That she’s going vegetarian?” 

“No not that one... and that fell through anyway.”

“Which one?”

“That she’s...a lesbian,” Erin said quietly, as if she imagined the word alone could make Clare come to attention. 

Orla shrugged, it was common knowledge but as far as she was aware it was completely unrelated to the situation at hand, “What’s that got to do with anything?”

“Maybe...now don’t quote me on this but...maybe,” Erin gestured wildly with her hands, “With you doing the whole heroic bullshit, saving her from the bull, treating her rash, all that, maybe it’s made her feel things.” 

Orla didn’t reply instead raised an eyebrow to signal to Erin to elaborate. 

“She might have developed a crush on you,” Erin said quickly.

“A crush?”

“Yeah I’m as shocked as you...I mean if anyone it should be me she has a crush on right?” 

“Right,” Orla agreed mindlessly then jumped from the fence and pushed past Erin, she stormed through the forest, stopping at her tent briefly to grab her rucksack filled with sweets, and then continued on her way to escape from the camp area. 

Erin didn’t dare to interfere with her cousin’s feelings or try to stop her from running away. She knew Orla would be back once she had calmed down. 

Michelle woke up as soon as she heard Orla dragging the bag out of their shelter. “What the fuck is going on? What’s her problem?” she asked in frustration at the commotion. 

“Michelle, please don’t give her a hard time,” defended Erin.

“Why not? She woke me up!” Michelle looked utterly confused and scrunched her face up. 

“There are more pressing issues than your beauty sleep, Michelle.” 

“Like what?” Michelle asked.

As she asked the question, Erin signalled for her to shut up, because she had noticed that Clare was lying awake.

“Don’t shut me up! What is going on?” Michelle grew more impatient and in need of answers.

“Not now. We’ll talk later,” was all Erin would explain. 

\----

In the other end of the forest, Orla was working out her feelings while sat under a tall tree. She saw a few squirrels running across the ground and climbing trees, she focused on them and their movements to help her mind go blank. 

A smile spread across her face as she stared at the creatures in fascination, it felt as if in this moment nothing could ever go wrong, but she knew when she returned to the camp she was in for questions and lectures. 

_‘Could I just...run away and live with the squirrels forever?’_ Orla pondered. 

She unwrapped a wham! bar from her bag and leant back against the tree. Nothing could shake her from this feeling of comfort. No sounds were overwhelming, no feelings, no tastes, no form of sensory input was at a level that she couldn’t deal with. 

\----

Clare propped herself up at the opening of the tent and watched as Erin made her way back to it.

“Erin, can I talk to you?” she asked.

Erin answered “Go for it.”

Clare looked down towards her feet, a sort of sadness worn on her face, “Did she run off because of me?” 

“What do you think?” Erin asked rhetorically then immediately regretted it, it most definitely came off a bit too harsh, especially when she noticed Clare flinch as she said it.

“I didn’t meant to hurt anyone.”

“We know, you just....got scared of what you feel right?”

Clare nodded in response. 

“What do you feel?” Erin questioned.

Clare shrugged, “It’s difficult to explain...I don’t want everyone to judge me.”

“Clare, does it look like I am judging you?” 

“A bit,” she confessed. 

“I’m not, these are just my natural expressions.”

Clare sighed heavily and waved for Erin to come closer so that she didn’t have to worry about Michelle overhearing. Erin followed and sat beside her. “I think, she’s the type of girl I like. She is... the girl I like,” her voice was shaky and quiet as she confessed this to her best friend.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not even sure what this is anymore. My quality has nose-dived and I'm very sorry. I do take requests and prompts for one-shots and I'd be happy to take on anything to show that I'm not 100% terrible at writing.

It had been four hours since Orla grabbed her rucksack and ran away from the camp, making the other girls on edge as they impatiently awaited her return. Their minds strayed to thoughts that worried them - such as, what if the bull got it’s payback for her scaring it off? 

Michelle offered the others her bottle of vodka for them to take a swig, “You guys need to chill the fuck out, she’ll be fine.”

“How can you be so sure?” Clare asked. A million different scary scenarios crossed her mind, not at all helping with her panic.

“You know Orla, she’s probably talking to some rabbits or something,” Michelle laughed and forced the bottle into Clare’s hands.

Her and Erin hesitantly took a small sip of vodka each and instantly cringed. Michelle rolled her eyes at what she considered an overreaction to the strong taste.

“It’s like paint-stripper, how do you drink this piss?” Erin almost spat out the small mouthful of vodka.

\----

On the other side of the forest Orla was waking up from a nap that she didn’t realise she was going to be taking. She woke up disoriented and a little frightened because she was so far away from the others.

Taking a moment to collect her thoughts she sat back down at the foot of the tree. Her mind kept straying back to those questions she had before sleep came over her.

_ ‘You know you felt it, when Erin said the word crush, for a brief moment your heart fluttered,’ _ she interrogated herself internally.

_ ‘I know it scares you but you need to stop overthinking. Damn it Orla. It was obvious you’ve always found her cute, what’s so different now?’ _

“The sunset!” Orla broke out of the thoughts that floated through her brain as the sunlight started to come through the trees at a different angle. She knew this was her chance. She got off the ground and began trying to find her way back.

For most people in this situation their first instinct would be to scream for help, but not Orla, she walked in a circle until a wrapper of a Wham! bar in the distance caught her eye. Just like the trail of crumbs left in the wake of Hansel and Gretel for them to follow home, Orla knew, without a second thought, that this was the way back. She followed it as it lead her uphill and through the long grass that had been flattened by her journey.

\----

As soon as the sound of twigs breaking under the strain of weight became loud enough for Clare to notice, she grabbed hold of Erin’s arm and clinged to it tightly, “Does anyone hear that?”

Almost as soon as she had asked the question Orla came stumbling into sight and fell down in pure exhaustion. She had decided it was a brilliant idea to sprint on the way back. “I’m fine, I’m fine!” she reassured between her heavy panting.

Erin ran over to her cousin and helped lift her towards the campfire. “You are an actual eejit, Orla. Did you really run all that way?”

“I wanted to get here before the sunset!” Orla explained. Her eyes caught a glimpse of the horizon and she hurriedly got up, ran over to Clare’s side and then dragged her towards the fence opposite the one she sat on in the morning while she was deep in her thoughts.

Clare looked at her in confusion, “What’s going on?”

“The sunset!” she said as she lifted Clare onto the fence then sat beside her.

“You wanted to...watch it with me?”

Orla nodded and wrapped an arm around Clare’s shoulder. “Of course, I wanted to make up for running away earlier.”

“It should be me making up for…”

Suddenly she was cut off by Orla. She closed the distance between her and Clare, pulling the two of them into a gentle but awkward kiss. Michelle nudged her friend. They both watched on at what was unfolding before them. Orla pulled away and smiled giddily, leaving Clare to sit there in shock and question what exactly just happened.

“Now I know one way I can shut you up!” Orla giggled.

They remained sat on the fence and watched as the sun grazed the horizon then disappeared from sight making way for nighttime.

\----

Around the campfire the girls huddled for warmth. It was a clear night and the chill was really getting to them.

“Can’t we do anything to make the fire...better…?” Orla asked while her freezing hands clinged onto the blankets over her knees.

Michelle rummaged in her bag and then produced something she thought might help, “Maybe this?” she held a bottle of hand sanitizer in front of the girls.

“Really Michelle?” Erin yelled.

“Have you not seen what this does to a fire?” she unlocked the pump and held it over the flames, “Watch.”

Clare protected her face from the heat and the flames with her hands, “Jesus!”

Orla stared in awe at the flames, “That’s cracker, Michelle, put some more on.”

“As you wish,” she sprayed some more of the alcohol gel onto the fire.

Clare was screaming, as was Erin, while Orla wasn’t phased at all by the danger of this flammable substance being thrown all over the fire. Michelle, kept adding more and more as the flames died down and eventually the bottle was near empty.

“Glad that that’s over…” Erin sighed in relief.

“No wait. There’s still little bits left,” Michelle said then began unscrewing the bottle.

“No no no what are you doing?” asked Clare, the only one who seemed to have her common sense intact.

“Getting the last few drops out,” Michelle waved the pump of the hand sanitizer over the open flames. Unsurprisingly, it ignited in her hand. “Fuck fuck fuck.”

“Put it out!” the girls screamed.

Michelle, without thinking of the obvious danger of the action, put the on fire pump back inside the bottle therefore creating a makeshift explosive. The bottle flew off, thankfully, in the opposite direction of the camp.

“What do we look like, Michelle? The RA?!” Erin shouted. She crawled over to Michelle’s side to whack her on the back of the head.

 Michelle lightly hit Erin back, “There was literally no need for that sort of overreaction, Erin, I had everything under control!”

 "Under control? _Under control_?!” Clare commented, “If that is under control I don’t want to know what...not under control looks like.”

 Michelle huffed. Erin sat back down. Orla minded her own business, and Clare remained stunned at the utter stupidity of her friend.


End file.
